Delaware subpoenaed reddit in order to reveal details of public sex act

The Delaware Attorney General’s office acknowledged Tuesday that in late March it subpoenaed reddit, seeking “all records and information including registered name, e-mail, and IP address" concerning user “un1cornbl00d” for a certain two day period at the end of that month. State authorities wanted this information in an attempt to locate a man and woman who appeared (NSFW) to have sex in public in the town of Newark, Delaware on St. Patrick’s Day, March 17, 2014.

Un1cornbl00d commented on a photo of the couple that was posted to reddit—noting, jokingly, that the woman looked like his or her sister. The photos and related comments have since been deleted, and reddit complied with the request in early April 2014. (The user later said that he or she does not have a sister.)

“I haven't heard anything about it since,” un1cornbl00d wrote on Monday. “I won't say where I live but I'm sure when they checked out my IP address and saw that it was more than 1000 miles from Delaware they probably figured I was lieing...” (sic)

“The subpoena was issued pursuant to a criminal investigation initiated and led by the Newark Police Department,” wrote Jason Miller, a spokesman for the Delaware Department of Justice, in an e-mail sent to Ars on Tuesday.

Miller noted that sending such a subpoena was "not common," adding that the couple was being investigated for possible lewdness under the Delaware Criminal Code. The Newark Police Department even issued a press release on March 17, noting that it was attempting to identify the couple.

“The incident was captured by several witnesses via cell phone and was quickly posted on various social media websites,” the police wrote in the statement.

Miller did not respond to further questions as to how Delaware authorities were made aware of the reddit thread in question.

reddit did not immediately respond to requests for comment when asked how often it receives such requests. The company does have a policy stating that it will inform its users of such requests unless specifically forbidden by a court order.